I’m trying to see how much data I use every month when I look at my invoice but I have to calculate that myself. Why isn’t there a summary in the end of each category, like everyone else does? And why can’t I go back and see the previous months when I look at the dashboard? I’m happy that you provide the dashboard but these things should be easy to implement.

I hope that your not trying “Not to show this information” and that you’ll fix this as soon as possible. Right?

The reason why I’m looking at how much I’m spending on my data is because you charged me 10 € to get a new sim-card. So I’m looking how I can change my package to save that money elsewhere.

I know that I can add the numbers up myself, I did, but accessing this information should be easier.

But in the end I guess that I should thank you, because without this happening I would not have realized that I don’t need the package I have.

Success and looking forward to you fixing this

]]>https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/10/17/dear-bennl-ben-nl/feed/0bryanallensmithA better, greener Haguehttps://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/07/04/a-better-greener-hague/
https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/07/04/a-better-greener-hague/#respondTue, 04 Jul 2017 12:22:44 +0000http://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/?p=848Continue reading A better, greener Hague→]]>I’m creating an open letter to anyone that would like to see the City of the Hague become a better, greener city.

—-

I sent an email to the city of the Hague and they recommended that I get in contact with GroenLinks

The City of The Hague: Why don’t you contact @GroenLinksDH to discuss this issue?”

I have lived in the city since the end of 2009 and I love the Hague! But when we came back from our trip to Pakistan I really started noticing how many bottles and cans are everywhere, on top of all the other trash in the streets. I guess I started noticing it because I saw a lot of the same in Pakistan but always thought to myself “at least it’s better in Holland”…but that isn’t even true.

I come from Iceland and there you get 5 cents for bottles and cans, so that means that the poor and also kids that are fundraising are always cleaning up and even go through other people’s trash to make sure that they get recycled.

Can’t we do the same here? We are already paying 25 cents for the big bottles, why not 5 cents for the rest?

And can’t we start being stricter giving people a fine that litter? There are some countries that have a litter police, we could hire some of the homeless people and give them a new chance in life.

I also thought about creating a fee for all rubbish that you get back when you recycle, kind of like what we are already doing with the big plastic bottles. But that will be more work and is for latter, while these ideas can be implemented right away.

Thank you for your attention and I’m looking forward to your feedback.

—-

So what do the rest of you think? What can we do to turn this city around?

]]>https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/07/04/a-better-greener-hague/feed/0bryanallensmithTrump is right about voter-fraud, just did not get it right who is committing it..its the politicians.https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/06/09/an-american-abroad/
https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/06/09/an-american-abroad/#respondFri, 09 Jun 2017 09:45:10 +0000http://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/?p=830Continue reading Trump is right about voter-fraud, just did not get it right who is committing it..its the politicians.→]]>A open letter to the inspiring organisation Let America Vote.

Thank you for fighting the good fight! I am wondering what are the most effective things that I can do since I left the USA when I was 5 to go live in Europe? I feel a bit responsible for Trump since I never got around to figure out how to vote in the USA. I am born in California but my family lives in Florida and when I contacted the state department they sent me a link to a website where I got lost trying to figure out what my steps should be. Its people like me that did not or could not register that got that thing elected, and it has been a rude awakening. Freedom is definitely not free, its work, but work with a lot of benefits.

I even thought about leaving my comfortable life in Europe and moving back to the states to try to help, but I am not even sure what I could do to make a difference…plus I must admit that the quality of life in the USA is not something that is appealing to me after having lived here and traveled the world. But I can´t help loving my country and wanting it to become all that it can be.

Sorry for my ramblings, I am venting as well explaining my situation. Maybe I could be involved with helping Americans abroad registering to vote. I´m currently living in The Netherlands and have family around in Scandinavia. Hope that you could point me in the right direction and that you never lose hope. Godspeed

Terrorist and Trolls

It is heartbreaking what happened in Manchester, United Kingdom but what takes the cake is the #FakeNews following it. I never post BuzzFeed articles but it was the most comprehensive source that I found when I’m writing this.

And one thing that I like to add is that its not helpful that we are using every opportunity to “promote” ISIS. We have to change the narrative and highlight that these acts are done by madmen and not call them terrorist. Because sorry to say but that word has a positive concentration among people that are sick and tired or being treated badly and that is something that some people aspire to.

Turderer

My good friend came with a really good point after reading what I wrote. He said “I hesitate to use the word ‘madman’ as I feel this promotes unreasonable fear of people who suffer from mental illness. What I’d prefer in this case is something akin to ‘murderer’ and ‘child killer’. Maybe a mix of terrorist and murderer, i.e. turderer. Turd for short.” And I agree with him that there is already enough stigma around mental illness so I don’t want to trough them under the bus as they are already more likely to be difficult situations already such as being thrown in prison because there are lack of facilities to take care of them. So my new way of describing the people that commit these atrocities is Turderes, lets see if that will catch on.

Was it ISIS?

Maybe we will find out that ISIS is behind this, they do have the urge to claim ownership over everything bad tgat happens and I would not be suprised if they start claiming respocebility for natural disaster eventually…but we need to first and foremost talk about how sick these people are in their heads, not give them the attention that’s the contributing part to them acting out in the first place. In many ways these are just grownup toddlers that have access to deadly tools. They are pathetic and so are the people that are trying to benefit from the chaos by posting #FakeNews

Again I recognize that I’m putting a bulls-eye on my head by bringing these things up, both by the online trolls and the other extremist, but the reason I have to write this is that we are not helping when we feed the trolls. Use that energy instead to take actual steps to creating a better world for everyone in it. We can do better.

]]>https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/05/24/dont-feed-the-trols-fakenews-manchester-bombing-and-changing-the-narrative/feed/0bryanallensmithI feel like a grumpy old man because I just don’t click with some new music.https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/i-feel-like-a-grumpy-old-man-because-i-just-dont-click-with-some-new-music/
https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/i-feel-like-a-grumpy-old-man-because-i-just-dont-click-with-some-new-music/#commentsTue, 16 May 2017 10:05:33 +0000http://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/?p=766Continue reading I feel like a grumpy old man because I just don’t click with some new music.→]]>First of all I have to clarify that I listen to a lot of music. Music is a big part of my life and personality. My first paid job was when I was performing in an Opera with some other boys from the boys choir I was in. I would always be singing and my family even remember a few times when I was singing while I was a sleep.

But here is where my dilemma starts, and I’m guessing that the hatred that I’m going to receive from expressing this dilemma…I have a hard time connecting with new music! :S I listened for a week at a time on repeat to Lemonade with Beyoncé, or Life of Pablo with Kanye West, or just everything that Kendrick Lamar…and, well, it just doesn’t do anything for me. There are one or two places where I go “Aww, snap, that is a brilliant turn of phrase/dope beat” (Yes, I know that I sound whack, but that is really my vocabulary), but most of the time I’m listing and trying to get into the groove or philosophize about the lyrics, and is simply feels uninspiring.

What do you think? Is music getting less interesting or am I just turning into an old guy on the porch complaining about the world Would like to see the discussions develop, but please lets try to be civil and explain our arguments instead of just expecting people to understand where we are coming from when they don’t have the context needed to fully understand.

]]>https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/i-feel-like-a-grumpy-old-man-because-i-just-dont-click-with-some-new-music/feed/1bryanallensmithI want to listen to songs I have never heard for a whole monthhttps://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/05/15/i-want-to-listen-to-songs-i-have-never-heard-for-a-whole-month/
https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/05/15/i-want-to-listen-to-songs-i-have-never-heard-for-a-whole-month/#respondMon, 15 May 2017 08:16:14 +0000http://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/?p=724I really enjoy traveling. No. That’s an understatement. I live for traveling. How do you know that? Because we arrange our whole lives around traveling. We take jobs that allow us to take long trips away, we spend all our money on traveling instead of pimping out our place (where we never stay anyway) and almost all of our time we aren’t working we spend planning our next trip ;P

One thing that I love about traveling is getting immersed into the atmosphere of the place. And music is a big part of that. In fact, just like traveling expands your comfort level it can expand your musical taste. For example, I can’t say that I really enjoyed Reggae music before working a summer in The Gambia. But every morning my host would turn to his computer while he was still in bed and click play…and we would listen to it until we left the house. And after a while Reggae became the way of life It helped me chill the f. down and I went from being the stressed westerner that was freaking out over meetings not starting on time to understanding “African time”, from walking around at New York speeds to develop a leisurely walk ;P and from giving people a head nod to taking the time to “properly” great people and ask about their health and their family.

And during day long trips in buses in Pakistan, I started developing an appreciation for Eastern music and I’m still listening to Bollywood songs online. And that leads me to my idea.

I remember the TED talk from Ann Morgan, that read a book from every country in the world and together with my newfound hunger for Eastern music it’s inspiring me to do a project where I listen to only new songs I have never heard before. So here is my quest, to find a way to do that. I have Googled and asked around but so far none of the current options of online music streaming really work. So maybe I’ll have to learn some programming and create my own solution…or I share this idea with people that already know how to solve this and inspire them to take action. And why would you want to do this? Because it expands our world and makes it bigger. So, let’s find a way

]]>https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/05/15/i-want-to-listen-to-songs-i-have-never-heard-for-a-whole-month/feed/0bryanallensmithReasons my faith encourages me to be a minimalist and a “social justice warrior”https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/reasons-my-faith-encourages-me-to-be-a-minimalist-and-a-social-justice-warrior/
https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/reasons-my-faith-encourages-me-to-be-a-minimalist-and-a-social-justice-warrior/#respondTue, 09 May 2017 12:57:14 +0000http://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/?p=631Continue reading Reasons my faith encourages me to be a minimalist and a “social justice warrior”→]]>First of all I don’t think its a sin to be rich!

Before going any further I need to highlight that “money is not the root of all evil”! And I might even add that “the love for money is not the root of all evil”! But its when we take anything and turn it into an ultimate thing then we can loose ourselves. I know plenty of people that are really good and and love making money. They like creating value in this world, taking something, that might not even have a lot of perceived value in the beginning, and improving upon it, to solve problems for other people. They like being “problem-solves” and “pain-killers”.

And there are a lot of professions that create a lot of value without ever being able to capture that value. For example teachers that influence students that then become valuable members of society. Or nurses, that often preserve valuable life and/or life quality. And then there are the often single mothers (lets face it, its more likely that the father ditches the responsibility than the mother) that do whatever it take to take the raw material of a child and instill in them values and teach them to become people of value. I know that I can never thank my mother enough for not giving up on me.

We are called to use our Talents,

and have them multiply.

The easiest way for me to illustrate that is by quoting scripture.

The Parable of the Talents

14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants[a]and entrusted to them his property.15 To one he gave five talents,[b] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.[c] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed,25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

We are called to cultivate our talents,

in order to serve others.

Again its easiest for me to quote a view few places in scripture:

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:42-45

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. – John 13:12-15

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:21-23

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:35-46

Now don’t get angry

I have now gotten used to, fellow Christians, getting very upset with me, like a 2 year old toddler that can’t get their way, whenever I touch on this subject. And I guess that in order to shield me against the blow-back I’m going to say that “I’m not saying that being and minimalist makes me better than other people. But it makes me a better version of myself and I’m just trying to live an authentic life based on my values”.

We have enough resources for everyone to live a basic, sustainable lifestyle!

I have been there myself

I didn’t have a lot when I grew up. And I was happy…until I started comparing myself with other people. That is when I started developing the disease called “MORE”. I became restless and unsatisfied with what I had because I wanted what other people had. And often interestingly other people later admitted to me that they wanted what I already had. Later I started getting more and more of what other people had. And for a split second I would experience bliss…until I started looking around me again and realized that there was more to be had. I eventually became so sick (I’m going to call this Sick because I really think its a disease. Dis-Ease, not being able to be at ease) that I leveraged all that I had access to to be able to buy more and more and more…and then there was the big correction. A.K.A. the market crash.

And in that chaos and pain I finally realized that I never needed any of those things. There was so much that I already had that I never even utilized or enjoyed. And now I’m living life pretty much as a poor person, compared to my friends, but I’m still richer than most people in the world, including some of them because I have found this immense freedom from finding another set of value system.

I’m going to have to continue with my ponderings later as I really want to get into what I consider the source of our disease and how more we can find a solution. I would love to start a dialogue with other people that are walking the same path and I welcome arguments from other people viewpoints, I really want to be able to understand the issues we are facing and I’m open to other ideas.

Happy 1st of May, Labor Day. Celebrating the lives of the countless people that have suffered so we can have a better life with vacations, workers rights, maternity and paternity leave…and the work is not over. We Can Do Better!

Interestingly enough there is only a #LaborDayGoogle Doodle for Google.is and not Google.nl. Don’t know if that is because the Dutch care less about their workers then Icelanders

This day is also a reminder to myself how amazing my life is, because if the people that enable my lifestyle. If a family is making more then 34.000$ per year we are part of the 1% of the richest people in the world and we have a opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of others with our actions, what we consume and how we consume it. We vote every day with our resources (Time, Talent and Treasure) for what kind of world we want to live in.

And lets not kid ourselves that just recycling or trowing some change at charities when we feel guilty makes any sustainable difference. Its like a overweight person switching to diet coke but doing nothing else to change their lifestyle. Lifestyle change is often challenging but just like the overweight person finds in painful in the start but then later wonders why they didn’t get started sooner it is the same for people that start living in a more sustainable way.

There are a lot of things that I’m addicted to of my consumerist lifestyle but the pain from quitting them is nothing compared to the pain other people, our brothers and sisters, are suffering to enable my lifestyle.

I’m on a detox and taking control over my life back from the broken system of greed and corruption. Whana Join

]]>https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/celebrating-labor-day/feed/0bryanallensmithElection Celebration: Hope Over Hate / Hoop Over Haat!https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/03/16/election-celebration-hope-over-hate-hoop-over-haat/
https://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/2017/03/16/election-celebration-hope-over-hate-hoop-over-haat/#respondThu, 16 Mar 2017 15:32:15 +0000http://bryanallensmith.wordpress.com/?p=603Geert Wilders, the Dutch Donald Trump, crying after loosing yesterday The inspiring people of AvaazThe media understood that this was an important step towards stemming the tide of fascism in EuropeMedia from all around the world came because of this important election. The results mattered and we show the world that Hope Wins Over HateA lot of energy when Azaaz showed up to celebrate freedomHope Over Hate / Hoop Over Haat!Brilliant performance by AzaazOscar Soria Senior Media Campaigner for Avaaz interviewed by the mediaChristoph Schott Global Campaigner interviewed by the media